Theater review: Gender-bending ‘Men On Boats’ makes waves

Monday

Sep 11, 2017 at 11:15 AMSep 11, 2017 at 11:20 AM

By Iris Fanger/For The Patriot Ledger

“Men On Boats,” the play by Jaclyn Backhaus, re-enacts the historic 1869 expedition through the Green and Colorado rivers that mapped the Grand Canyon for the first time – but with a difference. The four boats were manned by 10 white men, according to the diaries kept by John Wesley Powell, the intrepid leader of the expedition. Six of them survived to tell the tale.

However, the actors in the Boston premiere of the play at SpeakEasy Stage Company are women of diverse race and non-specific gender identification, as ordered by the playwright in her introduction to the script. One supposes her reasons are to mark the fact that the women who settled the West – having babies, raising and educating the children, working alongside the men to clear the fields and provide sustenance, had stories of their own to relate, but seldom got equal attention – “Little House on the Prairie,” aside. That said, the women of the SpeakEasy Stage ensemble are fiercely adventurous actors, treating Backhaus’s version of the journey with energy and humor to embody the sense of true grit that led the 19th century Americans across the unknown territories.

Under the spot-on direction of Dawn M. Simmons, the play – 100 minutes in duration with no intermission – unfolds at times like a ballet, with the men on the boats stamping in rhythm to a chant of their own: “Left! Keep Left! Rocks! Rocks Right! Keep Left!” Their boats are planks of 2-by-4s that are folded at the command, “Bank,” for the overnight rests on shore. Scenic designer Jenna McFarland Lord’s two-story setting of rough-hued, wooden platforms hung with ropes against a huge backdrop of canyon walls gives the cast roaming room as well as cubbies for personal time. The design furthers the image of the vast landscape surrounding the characters.

Robin JaVonne Smith as Powell brings a sense of authority to her leadership role, sometimes challenged by Veronika Duerr as William Dunn who has other ideas on how to manage the boats and forage for food. Mal Malme, brought up in Hingham, plays the Civil War veteran, Old Shady, elder brother to Powell, and the folk singer of the group. Hayley Spivey portrays Bradley, the youngest of the crew, with spunk and ingenuity, especially when she rips off her pants to fashion a life-line to rescue Powell from the water. Most touching are the close relationships that spring up between the characters as they undergo the hardships together of losing provisions and facing down dangers, including wild river rapids and poisonous snakes. Lyndsay Allyn Cox, Ally Dawson, Bridgette Hayes, Alice Kabia, Cody Sloan, and Ellie van Amerongen are the other members of the ensemble.

Backhaus does not shy away from the politics of the white men’s advance into territories peopled by the Indian nations. One hilarious scene recounts a meeting between Powell and two members of the Ute tribe who save the men by offering them food. The Indians speak English learned from needing to deal “with white men for our land,” they explain to the surprised white men. Despite the contrast between the empowered Indians to the inadequacy of the explorers reduced to living off the land, our foresight about the future for the first settlers only adds to the poignant undercurrent of the encounter.

Backhaus has written a chronicle that seems at times like a cross between a Ken Burns television pageant and a Gary Cooper western. The beginning, when each man introduces himself and then sets the boats to rocking through the unknown turns of the river, and the ending, when the expedition finally reaches its goal are filled with drama; the middle sections, not so much because of the repetitions. The all-female cast does not change the narrative, except to emphasize the macho nature of the men who believed in their powers to conquer the wilderness. Expertly produced by the creative team, and acted with zest and vigor by the impeccable cast, “Men On Boats” brings a refreshing new look to the local stage offerings this fall.